Fort Dodge road work plans are unveiled

Avenue C, Central Avenue upgrades are on tap for 2013

April 23, 2013

A roughly $1 million proposal introduced Monday would repair parts of 10 Fort Dodge streets this year, including a battered section of Central Avenue just west of 15th Street.

However, the reconstruction of part of First Avenue North and repairs to the Bridge of Fallen Heroes on North Third Street will not be done as planned this summer.

The Fort Dodge City Council received an update on what's proposed to happen and what's not going to happen on the streets this year during a workshop discussion following its Monday meeting.

Dave Odor, the geographic information specialist in the city engineer's office, presented a $1,075,000 street work proposal for this year.

''We feel that this is the best use of our money to get as many blocks done as possible and make an impact,'' he said.

City Manager David Fierke said he believes local option sales tax revenue will be used to pay for all of the work.

Avenue C will be the site of lots of construction activity. The council has already hired Godbersen-Smith Construction, of Ida Grove, to rebuild that road between D and G streets at a cost of $494,633.30.

The proposal Odor outlined Monday calls for repairing the curbs and gutters and either repaving or applying a slurry seal to the road surface between Kenyon Road and G Street.

In the 1400 block of Central Avenue, three storm sewer intakes will be fixed, according to the plan. The curbs and gutters there will be repaired and a new layer of asphalt will be applied.

Streets to be repaved as part of the project include:

Council members suggested some potential additions to the list of streets to be fixed, including Second Avenue North near Martin Luther King Drive, 10th Avenue North and 22nd Street, Second Avenue South between Eighth and 12th streets,15th Avenue South and 28th Street, and Avenue B.

The elected officials said they generally liked what Odor presented. The council will have to take future action to seek bids and then hire a company to do the work.

The reconstruction of First Avenue North between Third and Seventh streets was expected to be among the major projects completed this year. Because the state government is contributing money for the $3 million project, the Iowa Department of Transportation will hire the company to do the work. Odor said the state agency will not award a contract for the job until August, which he said means it will not get done this year.

Fierke said extensive repairs to the Bridge of Fallen Heroes have been postponed until 2014. That work was originally planned for the summer of 2012.